Artifice Page 75

We are now at $157 towards the next bonus page! Special thanks go out to long-time supporter Anne H. (who donated for the second week in a row!) and a warm welcome and grateful bow goes out to new supporter Kelly S. for their generous donations over the last few days!

So, we’re almost at the end of this scene and again your thoughtful comments are a delight for me to read (and a big morale booster, as well!) Folks have been weighing in on whether Deacon is playing Maven or whether he has every intention at this point of going through with his suggestion. (And some of you just want to see Jeff right now, gosh darn it! 😉 )

So, what do you think? Hearing his response to Maven’s question, is he for real?

***DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!*** Edit 2/12/12 noon: Thanks to your generous donations, we’ve yet again hit the donation target! So that means that in addition to our regular Saturday updates and a bonus page on Feb. 15th, there will be an additional bonus page on Wednesday, February 22nd! Thank you all so much!

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. . . . Now I don’t know what to believe! Third panel makes me feel conflicted. His expression to me is sad, regretful, closed off but at the same time reserved or determined/intent. I honestly want Jeff and Deacon to escape and have that corny happily ever after but . . . but I’m starting to believe Deacon is going to go through with this, or at least, attempt to. (Oh Alex, please let not be so! *sobs*)

I think Deacon is very good at saying what he thinks needs to be said. He’s lying in some respects but in others like, here, he’s telling the truth.

And yes, I want to see Jeff again!

fujoshifanatic

Could it be that Maven is lying? She may be playing a psychological game of chicken with Deacon to gauge his reaction to certain information. If so, it will be very interesting to see who gets the upper hand on who. And I must say, both Maven and Deacon have gorgeously rendered expressions in the second and fourth panels. That smile Deacon…as attractive as it is, you’re freaking me out with it. I reaally hope you know what you’re doing, because my mind is getting frazzled trying to figure out what happens next.

Oh, and I would give anything to find out just what Maven is writing down in that tablet of hers right about now…she must be doing as many calculations on the variables in this scenario as Deacon. I’m just hoping Deacon is quick enough to stay one step ahead of her. :-

Kel Z

I agree that he’s definately trying to play Maven, but she’s also waiting for it. She’s anticipating it. She’s got the benefit of experience in the field, but he’s got on his side the fact that his reactions/programming are different than what she’s encountered before. He’s largely an unknown. He’s already broken outside of what she’d expect of him. But she’s also adaptible; this was well illustrated by her reactions when he told her everything that had happened. She was shocked, but she moved on and barely missed a beat, really.

Deacon’s expressions facing her versus not facing her are interesting, though. When he’s not looking at her, he’s got a look of sorrow. It makes me wonder what’s going on in his head.

Well, she never said they were going to let Jeff go. Although if the company is as willing to cut its losses and destroy an expensive “piece of equipment” like Deacon as she’s already claimed, it doesn’t seem as if they’d have much use for Jeff if he wasn’t needed as a hostage for Deacon’s proper performance as a corporate soldier.

Is it me or do Jeff and Maven “kinda” have the same hair cut? Must be very fashionable in the future. Don’t blame them I’ve been growing out my hair since June 2011 and I have to say I kinda like it. 😀

Of course not! I was thinking more along the lines of chloroform, anesthesia, and a bone saw. I wouldn’t just rip a person’s arm off all willy nilly. What do you think I am?! Crazy?! ( )__( ) *is kidding*

…*maybe*

krissdevalnor

🙂 He has a plan – definitely!

DOVE

I can’t believe they are still talking…. get on with it already! I want to see Jeff!

I think Deacon is playing Maven. The thing that would be most fun, though, would be if Jeff were playing all of them with his innocent boy’s act 😀

ErykaSoleil

So do you think Jeff is really a sociopath, or just not all that innocent a person? In the latter case, would he end up breaking Deacon’s little microchip heart? Yet another thing for me to think on . . .

o.o would suck if Jeff was watching the whole time and thinks Deacon wants to kill him

AJTheShifter

Deacon is so planning something that is most delicious! Perhaps it is the suicide I speculate? And Maven’s comment only makes me consider the involvement of Jeff in the experiment to create the perfect feeling machine a definite. I wonder though, has Jeff, like the Angel, Saraquael, in “Murder Mysteries” by Neil Gaimen, gotten caught up in his work and he too has fallen for Deacon, despite knowing what the project was to be?

curious behavior on both their parts… i’m a little surprised/fascinated by maven’s admission that there may be no plans to kill jeff, and it’s also interesting that deacon persists in his assertion that he wants to kill jeff…seems like both are trying to play the other…

ErykaSoleil

Or Maven may just be testing Deacon to see what he’d say/do. She -is- documenting an “unprecedented” case, remember.

to be honest, Maven does not impress me intellectually. theoretically Deacon should be able to out think her unless his cognitive functions are some how handicapped. i feel like her real ace in the hole is the fact that she possesses his command codes and can use them against her. she hasn’t really displayed thus far any particularly sophisticated thinking, she’s mostly asked questions, behaved as a bitch, and now seems to be trying to manipulate Deacon. i suppose perhaps this is where we’ll see Maven’s true mental skills? i’m hoping she has something interesting up her sleeve because thus far she’s behaved fairly boringly.

Mark Locy

I think Deacon is playing the, “He is nothing to me,” card. It’s a bluff.

The line, “I am more than you think I am,” Deacon is saying, “I’m not just a robot killing machine, a bad soldier, a child without control of his emotions. I am a person, with my own plans, pains, and loves.” But, his acceptance of what he believes will satisfy Maven and keep him alive may obfuscate that. Enough that Maven will spare him? Does Maven truly want Deacon dead?

I think what fascinates me most is that I think I have a handle on Deacon’s character. His motivations, his flaws and merits. I don’t really know what Maven’s is up to. I think she is much more complex, her plan has yet to be revealed and her motivations may be something we never anticipated.

I have to say, even if I’m wrong and Deacon does intend to kill Jeff, wow, I’m hooked. I’d keep reading even after that tragedy.

Thank you for your apt response to my complaint. However, I have not – as you helpfully suggested – put my D3763 to uses the D model was not intended for. The user guide enclosed with it clearly stated that the D was entirely modeled after biological human beings, and (I quote) ‘designed to experience the full range of human emotions and sensations’.

Also, I do not wish to make use of either solution you proffered. I wish to KEEP my D3763, as I already stated in my former letter, so neither an upgraded replacement model, nor a complete refund will suffice.

I simply wish for you to return to me what is rightfully mine. Furthermore, I demand that no unrequested alterations will be made to my D3763. I wish to have it back in EXACTLY the physical and psychological state it was before you repossessed it.

Of course I am deeply sorry for the loss of Noneco employees it caused and send my sincerest condolences to their families. Yet in my humble opinion it was Noneco’s programming in the first place that caused it to behave in such a manner since it was (I quote again) ‘designed to experience the full range of human emotions and sensations’.

I hereby give you three more working days to comply to my request. When by then my D3763 will not be returned to me by next Wednesday February 5th, I will have to take matters to a more legal level. Since my lawyer informs me I have an airtight case, I urgently advice you to meet my ultimatum, to prevent matters becoming any more unpleasant than they already are for all parties involved.

My name is Ben Tibble and I am the senior VP of customer relations here at Noneco Artificial Life. I am in receipt of your most recent correspondence to lower-level support and understand completely your distress and disappointment as the result of actions from our employees that can only be considered rash and ham-handed. Customer satisfaction is our utmost priority at Noneco and we have clearly failed you in this regard. Please accept my deepest apologies.

That said, I understand when you feel you’ve been wronged, an apology on its own rarely suffices. Of course, we both have legal options at our disposal. Your lawyer could involve the courts in an attempt to retrieve the property you feel is rightfully yours. We could instruct our own lawyers to sue you for breaching the terms of your non-disclosure agreement by involving this lawyer (an unauthorized third party) in this dispute.

But really, I trust none of that will be necessary. And I believe we have a solution that will appeal to you.

Our testing of the D3763 prototype is nearly complete. Once I receive the go-ahead that our team has learned all we need to from these anomalies, we are perfectly comfortable with letting him go. But Noneco prides itself on outstanding customer service and after what you’ve been put through, I find merely replacing what was taken to be rather poor compensation.

Therefore, while you are waiting for us to finish our testing, I have authorized that an additional four C-model ASOs be dispatched immediately to your location in order to ensure that you get everything that you deserve. I have taken the liberty of using your HereIAM locator to pinpoint your position so you should see them arrive within moments after you finish reading this message. Noticing through your social listings that you are on retreat at a remote location, I can only imagine the relief and comfort that having four massively strong, nearly-human helpers can provide you and those with you.

And, as I am sure that after receiving this additional compensation you will no longer need the services of your lawyer, I would like to also provide your attorney and their office similar compensation as well for their trouble. After all, as a senior VP, I feel ultimately responsible for what’s happened here. Would you mind sending their HereIAM code on to me? If you’re too busy at the moment, no worries. I’m sure you can pass that code on to the C-models when they arrive. I think you’ll find them to be even more diligent in fulfilling their orders than the D-model prototype you are acquainted with.

As always, thank you very much for your passionate support of the D-model project. And I very much look forward to hearing that this solution has brought this matter to a satisfying conclusion.

Sincerely,

Ben Tibble

ErykaSoleil

Both of these “letters” are awesome! But now I find myself wanting to see the C-models. 🙂 (I suspect I may regret that later . . .)

After a few brief transfers I was told I should direct my information you you. It would seem that an unsightly mess has been found.

Three witnesses described your C models as approaching someone named “Jeff”, standing immobile for a moment, and shortly thereafter attacking each other yelling “Mine!” It would seem he had quite the effect on them.

The lone surviving C model was last seen carrying this Jeff off. None of the witnesses said just what direction, but I’ve enclosed their names and HereIAM codes for your convenience.

And I know you both are engaged in some light-hearted teasing, but I’ll give you an honest answer:

The truth is that I take little pleasure in torturing my characters. They are dear to my heart and I’m always rooting for a happy ending. But if I’m going to write honestly, that means I must follow where the story takes me and often that means following my characters into some very dark places. My goal as a writer is to give my protagonists and antagonists compelling, believable motivations and some useful, effective tools to fight for what they feel they want (or think they need). And then, once things are set up and in motion, to let things play out without trying to force what I, as the writer, might want to happen (or think is best or most popular or whatever). Obviously, it’s all coming from my little brain, so by the very way I try to set things up and the tactics I choose for my characters, I’m sure that colors the outcome. But I will say that as I wrote this last scene with Maven, I honestly didn’t know who would ultimately “win”. Instead, I had them both say and do what I honestly felt they would say and do and let the chips fall accordingly. And as for torturing my readers, again I know you were joking, but I will say that trying to keep from spilling spoilers is one of my hardest tasks. I so want to freely discuss what’s going on here with you all and, more compellingly, give you full and complete responses to your awesome analyses. But every time I try to do that, I wind up deleting what I wrote—it just gives too much away. And I never want to spoil anything for my beloved readers.

Anyway. TL;DR, I know. But I figured I’d share my thoughts. 🙂

ithilloke

I hate that predatory look on Maven’s face in panel 3…rrrrrrrrr….

Eriennexton

Allleexxxxx!….

Allleeeeexxxxxx—!Alex, why are you doing this!? Stories are -so- much better without conflict, don’tcha’ know!?

But without any conflict, it would be, “Once upon a time, a young boy who had survived the slaughter of everyone else on his outpost met an android, and taught him the meaning of Love. They went back to civilization and lived happily ever after. The end.” Not anywhere near as interesting, I fear.

Lithekitty

This could be many things. It could be “I want to see him again before I die.” It could be that he wants to be the only one to kill him. It could be that he’s trying to get close to him so that he can try to save him. It could be a romeo and juliet double suicide type thing…. Honestly, no many of those are appealing….

OK . . . . so i dont think it was ever explained WHY this colony had to be killed. I HAVE A THEORY~!

Everyone is a robot save for jeff and the others from the colony that are now dead. This would explain Maven’s coldness 😀 and it would explain why they destroyed the colony because we ALL know robots wanna rule the universe. cant have humans in the way for that. YAY!

that’d be such a crazy twist. X3

Ayella

I looove the way you’re thinking!

Maiumaora

What about the cops from earlier? Why would that guy be so weird about deacon being a robot if everyone else was also one?

OK . . . . so i dont think it was ever explained WHY this colony had to be killed. I HAVE A THEORY~! Everyone is a robot save for jeff and the others from the colony that are now dead. This would explain Maven’s coldness 😀 and it would explain why they destroyed the colony because we ALL know robots wanna rule the universe. cant have humans in the way for that. YAY!

So, now he’s willing to kill Jeff even though it might now even MATTER? All because he wants to prove that he’s worth keeping…

I can’t help but read between the lines here, and think that something else is going on inside his head other than what he’s telling Maven…I mean, if they told him that Jeff didn’t need to be killed, what reason would he have to lie to Maven to get to him other than killing him. It would have no point if it wasn’t needed anymore. I don’t think Maven would risk Jeff’s life, and have Deacon kill him unnecessarily just so Deacon can keep his honor/duty as a soldier.

SOMETHINGS UP AND I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT IS. Meep!

qu_gon_robot

Argh Deacon’s perfect poker face will hint at nothing! Way to do it like a true emotionally restrained killbot!

Yukiness

I have been biting my nails for the past few pages and now I have no hands left to nibble on in nervousness.

Fixed your link. 🙂 (And just as a warning to others, it gets a bit… graphic… It’s a stick figure animation, but not for weak stomachs.)

Ayella

Eww!

thisboybroken

Ok, so besides the fact that Deacon is seriously gorgeous in that last panel, I have to wonder what he is really up to??? Alex, stop playing with us and bring on the happy ending lol. Great job as always and I am still waiting for my order confirmation on my very own Deacon!

Oh oh! Make mine like Misha Collins! I already have a payment method worked out. (But you may not want to know.)

Edit: I forgot to say please. My mother would be ashamed if I didn’t ask the nice man: “May I *please* have a sentient celebrity lookalike android that I may defile on an hourly basis.” So yeah, please and thank you?

ErykaSoleil

Can I order one that looks like Riddick, please? That would just make my day (and every day thereafter for the rest of my life).

wasEnkidu

Well I’ve personally got a thing for blonds with Jeff-length hair.

Falconfly

Okay, now I’m totally rooting for the lawful extremist bitch now.

Krondor2000

These little mind games are driving me crazy!! No…scratch that…it’s driving me insane!! Maven obviously is in no hurry to leave to have her precious chardonnay!! She is still playing this game to see what further reaction she could extract from Deacon. And Deacon is fighting as well to give her what she wants to hear. I bet Deacon is winning. Why? If you guys remember humans who had played against super-computers in chess & Jeopardy, the computers always seem to win. So here is our hope for a happy ending. Especially when she mentions the little fact that Jeff is still alive. But, she made a “what if” statement. Crud….I think I just shot our hope down the drain….this is so not ending well…….

ErykaSoleil

While they’re good at strategy, current AIs still fail at things like metaphors, similes, and pokerface. I can see this Deacon-vs.-Maven exchange as a chess game, but I’d say there’s a touch of poker here, too. I’m sure Deacon is WAY more advanced than anything we have now on the commercial AI market, but just how much more advanced is the real question.

Ryn

ugh… i anticipate and dread each page. *whimpers* so. much. tension.

Deacon, you better have a plan that does not include Jeff killage.

ErykaSoleil

Hmmm . . . I notice two things: 1) That Deacon still hasn’t flat-out said that he would use his “second chance” to kill Jeff, and 2) that Maven has taken her stylus and digital notepad thing back out (and is either taking notes, or drawing little stick figures frolicking through fields of daisies).

wasEnkidu

She’s writing yaoi porn. Like all psychiatrists, she has a way with words. I’d wager that she’s not a great artist though. O.o What if she’s just cruising fanfiction.net on that thing??

ErykaSoleil

I picture Maven being like the Accountant from Metalocalypse.

wasEnkidu

Deacon, you sneaky-bot, what are you planning? XD Oh I certainly HOPE there’s no plans to kill Jeff! Although I can’t imagine what Deacon is planning to show his usefulness in that respect.

He’s playing it. I’m almost sure of it. The comic is still too young to merit killing off a main character. Love can make a person do alot of things. Deacon may be suggesting that he follow through with his orders, but it’s probably telling Maven what she wants to hear. He just wants to assure his own self-preservation.

i really like reading this comic but it got just a lil bit too obvious in these few weeks. maven talking, deacon manipulating, maven manipulating, deacon angsting…i am happy that this arc is ending. i am yearning for something different! in the form of jeff, sex, politics or vicious killing, i welcome all.

C K

Heh, I like that even Maven is playing the “exact words” game. “*What if* I told you…?” instead of just saying “Well, they said Jeff isn’t a threat.”

I somehow think that if the corporation decided Jeff was no threat and were planning to release him/integrate him into their mini-society they’ve got, unleashing the wrath of their android soldier on him wouldn’t be an option. If nothing else, it’s not going to be reassuring to your employees/citizens if you say, “Hey, we decided this guy’s done nothing wrong, but let’s KILL HIM ANYWAY! 8D”

I also like that Maven’s got her notes out. I wonder what she’s writing…?

Oh my God. She just told him Jeff could live. JEFF COULD LIVE! And he’s gonna kill him! *dies*

Also, I think my boyfriend thinks I’m crazy now. I blame the both of you, Alex, for the story, and Winona for heartwrenchingly amazing art. I’ve been over here squeeing (and kicking my feet against my chair as it loaded), and my boyfriend is trying to figure out if I’m dying or what the fuck is going on. *sighs* If only he liked teh yaoiz…

But still! I’m just so worked up, so full of nervous energy and don’t know what to do and Decon CAN’T do this! He just can’t! *cries*

ErykaSoleil

Yeah, my dog looks at me funny when I read this comic lately, for pretty much the same reason. 🙂

I’m… wow. That. That sucks so much. Gods, I hope this turns around. I don’t have any idea how it could. But I will absolutely hate Deacon forever if this happens. I mean, seriously, it’s a good thing he’s not a real person… … and my brain just broke. Sudden realization, don’t think I’m gonna share.

And here we are on this day for people who think that making this one day a year an extravagant and luxury-filled one makes up for not being romantic or caring toward one’s partner the rest of the year 😛 CAMPING!

That sounds EPIC. I shall have some, if you don’t mind. ::grabs a small handful:: Thanks!

I’ve recently gotten into Supernatural. That is a GREAT show. Target had seasons 1, 2 4 and 5 on sale for fifteen dollars each, so I bought season 1 as a taste test…and ended up getting the rest. Had to buy season 3 online though, since it wasn’t in the store. Weird.

Lmao! You poor naive thing. I enjoy watching the first season because compared to seasons four and up, it’s positively light hearted. Seriously, those boys get SO MUCH angst, it’s a wonder they get up in the morning. They are known for it. That’s all I’ll say because I don’t want to give anything away. Still, it’s one of my favorite shows

I’m curious, is there a single link that will automatically take you to the newest page? I keep having to update my link every week so that it’s easier to reach the new page, and was wondering if there were an easier way xD

There’s not a single link that I’m aware of. What I did was bookmark the title page, then I just click the “last” button under the bottom right corner of the comic. This brings you to the latest page and no updating necessary! Hope this helps.

WAAAH what a situation, ”we’re not planning to kill Jeff he’s not a threat”. Of course I am almost 98% sure they’re lying, BUT…. In Deacons situation he cant be sure, but in a way i think he is since he still want to go through with it.